IMAGINE the unthinkable: Someone of substance in the Chinese community saying something deeply racist on video about the death of a Malay policeman in the aftermath of a racial skirmish in Kuala Lumpur.

WHEN I joined Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP) as a researcher in 1977, I shared a room with the late Abdullah Hussain. He was already a well-known novelist and short story writer. He later became the country’s eighth Sasterawan Negara (national laureate). He was once the editor of the entertainment magazine Gelanggang partly owned by the great P. Ramlee. Naturally, he had a lot of stories to tell about his days in Singapore during the best years of Malay cinema.